PASTORAL HINTS N A FEW POINTS OF ORDER AND DOCTRINE, TOR THE PARISHIONERS OF STj JOHN'S CHURCH, Kl TIIERFORDTO.V, IV. C. Let all things be done decently and in order. — I Cor. xiv. 40. Hold fast that which is good. — 1 Thes. v. 21. POINTS OF ORDER. I. At the proper times of prayer, fc/ieeZ down forwards ;* that is the more comely practice. In the ante-communion service, the Minis-? : ter is directed to turn from the altar towards the people and rehearse distinctly the ten commandments to them, while still upon their knees. tJow if the Minister is to turn towards the people, the ser- vice evidently supposes them to be already in the appropriate posture of receiving his address, i. e- turned towards him. II. It is a godly customf of the Church in this Diocese, to bow the head reverently "at the name" of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Creed, in acknowledgement of His eternal Sonship and Supreme Divinity with the Father. The Creed was your baptismal profession of faitb> and by this, among other solemn acts of worship, you fulfil the sign of the cross in baptism, which betokens "that hereafter you shomd not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified." III. At the end of all prayers, the people are required to answer Amen. "While our minister is rehearsing the prayer that is made in the name of us all, we must give diligent ear to the words spoken by him, and in heart beg at God's hand those things that he beggeth. in words. And to signify that we do so, we say Amen at the end of the prajer that he maketh in the na: e of us all." — Horn, of Com- *This practice has already been generally adopted by our regufar worshippers. iOrdered in the Church of England by her 18th Canon. mon Prayer and Sacraments. Hence the prayers have been cast into the form of Collects, that by this means worshippers might have the frequent opportunity of hearty and audible response, (1 Cor. xiv. 16.) "The brethren in Egypt," says St. Austin, "have many pray- ers, but each of them very short, as if they were darts thrown out with a kind of sudden quickness lest that vigilant and erect attention of mind, which in prayer is very necessary, should be wasted or dulled thro' continuance, if the prayers were few and long." IV. The Church is the house of Prayer, (Mat. xxi. 130 "separa- ted from all unhallowed, worldly and common uses, in order to fill men's minds with greater reverence for the Divine Majesty, and affect their hearts with more devotion and humility in God's ser- vice." — Consec. office. There the Apostle enjoins the utmost at- tention to decency for the Angels' sake. — 1 Cor. xi. 10. How utterly out of place then the unseemly behavior — the careless demeanor — the irreverent lounge — the many nameless acts which mark a for- getfulness of Angelic presence! not to say of the Divine. "The House of God is a Court beautified with the presence of celestial powers ; Ps. xcvi. 6. — there we stand, we pray, we sound forth hymns unto God, having his Angels intermingled as our associates." Hooker. V. The postures proper to be observed during the Commu- nion Office. Kneeling, during the whole of the ante-communion, except the Epistle, which is to be heard silting, the usual posture for hearing the Scriptures — and except the Gospel which is ordered to be heard standing, the people saying in thanks for the blessed Gospel, "Glory be to thee, O Lord." The sentences of the offertory to be heard silling whilst alms for the sick and poor of the parish are collecting. Kneeling, to be observed during the prayer for the Church Militant. Standing, during the exhortations. Kneeling to be then resumed and continued until after the prayer of consecration. Standing, while singing the Hymn. Kneeling, when receiving the sacred Elements, and during the Post-communion, except the "Gloria in Exceleis" which is to be said or sung standing, after which the congregation should again kneel to receive the blessing and remain a short time in private devotion. VI. The Elements, at Communion, should be received with the hand ungloved, and the veil, if worn, timely removed from before the fcce at the Minister's approach. — Ps. xxvi 6. — (suggestive,) Communicants should "tarry one for another," (1 Cor. xi. 33.) around the altar, till all kneeling with them have communed. POINTS OF DOCTRINE. I. Baptism. — The Church's doctrine is most fully laid down in the Baptismal Office ; from which it appears, 1st, that all infants, in Baptism, have remitted unto them the original or birth-sin which bonded them unto God's wrath and condemnation — (Art. 9.) — 2dly, They are born again by the Holy Ghost given unto them and thus become sons of God, in the fulness of that spiritual blessing. This spiritual relation of sonship, like the natural relation, is real and unalterable, tho' the wilful prodigal may, notwithstanding, make it a practical lie to his own ruin. 3dly. In Baptism a covenant is made with G"d and visibly sealed. "Our Lord Jesus Christ has promised in bis Gospel to grant all these ♦hings that ye have prayed for," viz. to receive, to release, to sanctify with the Holy Ghost, to give the king- dom of heaven and everlasting life, — "which promise, he for his part, will most surely keep and perform, wherefore, after this promise made by Christ, this infant must also faithfully, for his part, promise by you that are his sureties," &c. In the case of adults, truly repenting and coming to our Savior Christ by taith, corresponding privileges accrue — that is, actual and original sin is remitted, sonship assured, and a covenant of forgive- ness made, on the same terms, as at first qualified for the sacrament, "for we are not to doubt, but earnestly to believe that he will grant such persons remission of their sins and bestow upon them the Holy- Ghost — that he will give them the blessing of eternal life and make them partakers of his everlasting kingdom." We may conclude therefore with Bishop Pearson, "that it is the most general and irre- fragable assertion of all to whom we have reason to give credit, that all sins whatever any person is guilty of, are remitted in the baptism of the same person. Again, it is certain that all sins committed by any person after baptism are remissible ; and the person committing those 6ins, shall receive forgiveness upon true repentance, at any time, according to the Gospel." The Sacrament of Baptism is declared "to be generally necessary to salvation" — (Catechism) for though God binds us to his sacra- ments, where they can be had, he does not therefore absolutely bind himself, but continues free, as far as we know and believe, to apply extraordinary or unsacramented mercy thro' Christ; but this consid- eration, it is plain, does not lessen, but confirm the duty of obedience to outward commanded means of salvation where they can be had. When God appoints us media of grace, they are the media to us. We dare rely upon no other. Let it be borne in mind also, that the forgiveness of sins obtained by the penitent, in the sacrament of Baptism, is in his probational term, necessarily conditional*— the condition being that the forgiven *And yet a noted writer, whose Letter to the Bishop of Oxford has moulded some modern theological views, asserts — of course he does not prove — "There are but two periods of absolute cleansing, baptism and the day of Judgment. The Church therefore, teaches him con- tinually to repent that so his sins may be blotted out, tho' she has no commission to tell him absolutely that they are, (as in Baptism.)" — This writer totally sinks the nature of Baptism as God's faithful covenant, covering the whole of human life ; its effect, with him* is limited to the particular time of its administration — and that effect so magical, that an absolutely pure being is created, out of the peni- man abide in faith and obedience, in that state of grace into which he has been brought ; else, like the unmerciful servant whose debt of 10,000 talents once remitted, was afterwards retained by his Lord, the baptised man becomes accountable again for sins once for- given. They return upon him whether formally or virtually. For baptism doth now save us (not the putting away the filth of the flesh; a mere physical purgation — but the answer of a good conscience to- wards God,) says St. Peter — the continuance of those inward quali- ifications attested by the conscience and authenticated before God, by his visible seal and instrument. ' II. The Declarative and Precatory forms of Absolution. — You are familiar with these forms. You hear one or the other pro- nounced in our solemn assemblies, as the Rubric requires, "by the Priest alone standing, the People still kneeling." What place does the Absolving Form hold in ministerial acts, in other words, on behalf of God towards us? Is it by way of sacrament of post-bap- tismal sin, and therefore, if it be so, as necessary to remission of sin instrumentally as the Baptismal sacrament ? Let me premise that in the primitive Liturgies, the form of Absolution is found only in the Eucharistic office, where none but communicants were allowed to be present. "It was long," says Morinus, quoted by Marshal, before Absolution was in point of time separated from the Eucha- rist." This circumstance plainly intimates the judgment of the ancient Church as to those on whom the benefit of absolution is or has been ministerially collated. It also gives searching point to those words of the Exhortation, to the people when negligent of their duty. — "Wherefore then do ye not repent and amend ? * * * Wherefore according to mine office, I bid you in the name of God, I call you in Christ's behalf, I exhort you, as ye love your own salva- lion, that ye will be partakers of this Holy Communion." But in after times, when the celebration of the Holy Communion, from various causes, became less frequent, the Church, in 1552, pre- tent, at the instant — an effect which can never be realised again till the Judgment day, "not even by the absolution of the Eucharist" — since, forsooth — "the Church has no second Baptism to give." This blinding heresy of the age has been signally rebuked by Maurice in his well known work, "The kingdom of Christ" — e. g. p. 549. — "How great then must be our confusion and dismay, when we dis- cover that the preaching of repentance and of good works is just as impossible upon the (so called) catholic system, as upon the evan- gelical — that the congregations of the one are to he treated practic- ally as if they had lost their baptismal rights, just as the congrega- tions of the others are to be 'treated as if they had never obtained them ; that repentance and mora! discipline are to be held forth as the possible means of recovering a treasure, not as the fruit of shame for the past, and precaution against the future abuse of it ; that ex- hortations to good works, therefore, must of necessity take a selfish, form and be confirmed by selfish sanctions,'' 5 fixed to her Daily Morning Prayer, an absolving form, after Gen- eral Confession, for the benefit of Communicants or those designing to become so, on opportunity, while in the same form she takes occa- sion to pronounce to all present the conditions of the divine forgive- ness. Now Baptism, we have seen, is not a quasi-physical ablution from sin up to a certain time, as the Romish notion seems to suppose, but God's faithful covenant with the soul, "Christ's own compact," says Hooker, to forgive sin, to release from its bonds, at any time on true repentance — to bestow the blessing of eternal life — which of course implies that its covenanted benefits are prospective as well as retrospective. The Priest, therefore, in the ministry of Absolution, renews and confirms to you, on God's behalf, a promise of forgive- ness, which promise is already sacramentally yours — which must needs therefore take effect at any time on true repentance, "without staying for the Priest's (oral) absolution," — as Hooker says, that is as a necessary instrumental cause — "for we ascribe the work of remission to God, and interpret the Priest's sentence tobebuta solemn (authorized) declaration," called by him elsewhere B. vi. c. 6. J 8. "a judicial Declaration." of that which God himself (in the Priest's judgment) hath already performed, ('according to his own compact.')" "Our Church," says Bishop Wilson, in his meditations on his sacred office, "ascribeth not the power of remission of sins to any but toGod only. She holds that faith and repentance are the necessary conditions of receiving this blessing. And she asserts what is most true, that Christ's ministers have a special commission, which other believers have not, authoritatively to declare this abso- lution for the comfort of true penitents ; and which absolution, if duly dispensed, will have a real effect from the promise of Christ." — John xx. 23. But there is another Sacrament of the Gospel beside Baptism, whibh is declared in the same sense, "to be generally ne- cessary to salvation;" viz: IH. "The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ." — According to the mind of the Church, the Apostolic right of Confir- mation precedes, either in act or in readiness and desire, admission to the Holy Communion. (See the Rubric.) The Baptismal vow is herein openly ratified and confirmed by the parties themselves, on their own behalf — after which the Bishop supplicates for them the strength and increase of the Holy Ghost, and by the laying on of hands after the example of the Holy Apostles, certifies them by that sign of God's favor and gracious goodness towards them. Persons therefore, who have submitted to this sacred ordinance, sin against their own voluntary vows, if they neglect or refuse to prepare them- selves for the perfection of the faithful, as the Sacrament of the Atonement was anciently called. The Church, by requiring of her members, as a precedent condition of Communion, a readiness, at least for Confirmation at the first opportunity, most clearly implies that all Confirmed per ons, in orderly Christian course ought to be communicants. But what are the benefits that we become parta- kers of in her highest Sacramental mystery'? Briefly,!. The Bap- 6 tismal covenant, in all its fulness and efficacy, is by another visible sign ordained by Christ himself", re-assured unto the worthy parta- kers of "the spiritual food of Christ's most precious Body and Blood" — "dost assure us thereby that we are very members incorporate in the mystical Body of thy Son, which is the blessed company of all faithful people," &c. — Prayer after Communion. 2d. — "The strengthening and refreshing of our souls by the Body and Blood of Christ, as our bodies are by the bread and wine." Catechism. The best comment on which words is that furnished by the judicious Hooker — "It may be that the grace of Baptism would serve to eternal life were it not that the stale of our spiritual being is daiiy so much hindered and impaired after baptism. In that life therefore where neither body nor soul can decay, our souls shall as little require this sacrament as our bodies corporal nourishment, but as long as the days of our warfare last, during the time that we are both subject to diminution and capable of augmentation in grace, the words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will remain forcible, "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have no life in you." B. V. 67. IV. — Confession. — Confession of sin or the submission of our- selves to God by supplication and prayer is an integral part of true repentance, while the sinner's refusal to humble himself before God is the sure mark of an obdurate heart. (2. Sam. xii, 13. Job ix, 20, xxxi, 33. xxx, 27; Prov. xxviii, 13. Jer. ii, 35, xvi, 10; Hos. xiv, 2, 1 John i, 9, 10; Luke xv — 18, 21.) The form of a confession in common worship, must necessarily be general, but "men ought not to content themselves with a general.- repentance, but it is every man's duty toendeavor to repent of his particular sins particularly," Confession of Faith (Presbyterian.) And our own Hooker showing how this habit, of particular repentance learned in private can be practised in each man's case, uader general terms of public confes- sion, inquires — "What reason is there every man should not under the general terms of confession represent unto himself his own particulars whatsoever?" "Every single person "says VVheatly," who makes the general confession with his lips may at the same time mentally unfold the plague of his own heart, his particular sins, whatever they be, as effectually to God who searches the heart, as if he enumerated them in the most ample manner." I refer you to the hortatory counsels of the Communion office for authorized in- struction on the point before us. You will there perceive that the Church throws upon all her members who have not incurred discip- linary judgment,* the entire responsibility of preparation for the *Art. 33, (in the Prayer Book) "That person which by open denunciation of the church is righteously cut off from the unity of the church and excommunicated ought to be taken of the whole multitude of the faithful, as an Heathen and Publican until he be openly, reconciled by Penance, (that is, penitential discipline) and received into the church by a Judge that hath authority thereunto." Holy Communion and from high principle, makes them bear it, as their oion. She assumes, not to judge or direct their conscience thro' her ministers, but encourages, fervently encourages resort to them for connsel and comfort, in case the ordinary means she there sets forth according to the truthful word of the Gospel should fail of producing their intended effect, viz: a full trust in God's mercy and a quiet conscience. I am persuaded that the more this solemn Exhortation of the Communion Service, is examined by the light of God's Holy Word, of man's inalienable personal accountability, the teachings of experience, the confiding Sonship of the Gospel, secured to us in baptism, in whatever respect it be regarded, we shall with increas- ing fervor, admire the wisdom, and bless the guiding hand of Him who overseeth his church, and leaveth it, not orphaned of his Holy Witnessing, Convincing, Interceding Spirit. V. The Apostolical Succession. — "Lo ! I am with you always even unto the end of the world." This is the impregnable warrant of that succession of the apostleship unto the end of time, which the Church upholds as fundamental to her existence. The Preface to the Ordinal states explicitly, "It is evident unto all men diligently reading Holy scripture and ancient authors, that from the apostles' times there have heen three orders of Ministers in Christ's Church — Bishops, Priests and Deacons." The propagation of this ministry, is, by divine right, thro' the Apostleship or the office of Bishops ; and in no other appointed way, can we be connected thro' the ministra- tion of chosen men, with the promised ministration of the spirit of Christ. " The ministration of God's word," says Martyr Cranmer 1548, " which our Lord Jesus Christ himself at first did institute, was derived from the apostles unto others after them, by imposition of hands and giving the Holy Ghost from the apostles' time to our days. And this was the Consecration, orders and unction of the apostles, whereby they at the beginning made Bishops and Priests, and this shall continue in the church even to the world's end." — The church of the Bible, therefore, whatever be other conditions of its existence, must live continuously in History — in Acts, in the "Christ ordained the authority of the keys to excommnnicato noto- rious sinners and to absolve them which are truly penitent," — Horn, for Whitsunday, 2d part. This authority of the keys is exerted in our Church, in a marked way, only by repelling from the Holy Commu- / nionyyAn appeal may be made to the Ordinary, that is, the Bishop, / by the repelled party. And then it is his duty, unless he thinks fit to restore him from the insufficiency of the cause assigned by the Minister, to institute an inquiry indue form. — Canon 42 of 1832. — In the Primitive Church, however, which the Homily calls "most holy and godly," besides being debarred the sacrament, "the excom- municated were not suffered once to enter the House of the Lord, nor admitted to common Prayer," until they had submitted to the open Church discipline, suited to their case. The ancient Discipline ^-^ y* SX~ /4a_^«__ m 8 fellowship of true and lawful apostles. According to the view pre- sented, a true apostolic, Succession becomes the ground of all author- ity whatever in ministerial acts — in the ministration of the word and sacraments.* Therefore, unless a man be specially commissioned by Christ himself to be his Apostle, as was Saul of Tarsus on his way to Damascus, he can never out of the ordinary outward way derive a valid and lawful ministry, and even in the case supposed, he would be obliged to authenticate his commission, before the Church by miraculous proofs (Mat. xi, 3, 4 — Ex. iv, 1, 2 &c.) or else Christ himself would assure his church thereof by a distinct revelation. — (Acts ix, 11, 15.) VI. The Unity of the Church. — "I believe one Catholic and apostolic Church" — Nicene Creed. I take it for granted that you never, so far wrong your Church and Baptismal Creed, as ever to apply the sacred name of Catholic or Universal to the Schismatical Roman Church. The attribute of Catholic is as dear to the Church of the Creed as that of Apostolical. She claims both and will not consent to part with either. But this church is both one, by institu- tion, and onely in its essential nature or capable onlyjof being one. — Now this doctrine of the Unity of the Church is a matter of momen- tous interest to all who call themselves Christians. 1. Because of the mysterious truth, that in this one church only there is a revealed way of Salvation in the name of Christ. 2. Because, if true, it becomes to us who believe it, a principle of moral obligation. The duty of submission to lawful authority and mutual forbearance, of keeping aloof from all acts and assemblies of Schism flows directly out of a belief in one Holy Church. It is as much a life as a creed. 3. Because, not only is it a safeguard against schism but a guide when rightly apprehended thro' the entanglements of a thousand controversies. I have said that the doctrine of the true Unity in- was to put those to open shame who by any notorious sins had given public scandal and offence. Of this kind of [discipline, Wheatly says — "our church, in particular heartily bewails the want of it." But this was 'the law of the leper' only — the judicially unclean — of none others. *" If the system of Dissent or of ultra Protestantism, be a reformation on the true apostolic model, it would be impossible to account for the existence of Popery ; for it would be impossible for any person of reflection to maintain that by any process of corruption the system of Romanism should have arisen out of one which denies or slights the visible unity of the Church, the succession of an apos- tolic Ministry and the efficacy of the sacraments and which yields nothing to the voice of Catholic antiquity. * * * * One may con- ceive of the system of Dissent degenerating into Arianism, or Socini- anism or Deism (as it actually has done in Germany, Switzerland, and parts of New England) ; but it is quite impossible to conceive of it degenerating into Romanism." — Dodsworth. 9 volves the fact, that in the one Church only there is a revealed way of salvation through Christ. Vet many good and earnest Christians shrink from the avowal of the oneliness of the Church, because of the supposed necessary consequence they connect with it — viz: — a loss of salvation to all who either by their own act or that of their fath- ers, are out of the one fold. Had they drawn the conclusion of a loss of Church being, I must have agreed with them, but when they proceed so far as to search the secret of God in his dealings with men according to unsacramented mercies, it were high time then to recall to mind our Lord's gentle rebuke to Peter, when a mistaken feeling of charity for a brother Apostle tempted him to press forward beyond the line of his declared mind — "What is that to thee 1 follow thou me." However, the following observations by Manning, seem to approve themselves to enlightened reason. "The wisdom of God is manifold; and of all the ways of bringing about the same end He has revealed but one, and while we know of no other and can trust ourselves to no other, and dare teach men to rely on no other, yet we may well believe he ha3 reserved many more ways in his own power. We who see men under the energy of God's spirit, without his sac- raments, may well hope that they shall partake of salvation without his Church. It is accordant with all that God has revealed of him- self to believe that in his moral government over his moral creation, He proceeds by the broad rule of nalural equity, on which even his supernatural economy is grounded ; and that the virtues of the one atoneing sacrifice prevail even for those who by no act of their own, have been disinherited of their portion in his visible Church. That they belong to the Body of the Church, however, is contrary to all evidence and testimony of the Prophets, Apostles and of Christ him- self," «fcc— C. U. Part iii. c. 2. The same writer elsewhere forcibly remarks^ — "It is impossible to find any scheme which shall not eith- er exclude the self originated communities of Christendom from the unity of the Church, or assert a right in man to make and un- make the conditions of his own probation — such anomalies meet us in the attitude of objections ; they put our faith on trial. Let us not try to escape our difficulties by changing the ordinance of God. It may be that in this very perplexity, lies a great part of our moral probation." THE POSITION OF THIS CHURCH IN RESPECT TO ROMANISM. Recent events* have excited more than ordinary attention to the true position occupied towards 'the Roman Obedience' in this cowi- * I refer to the defection from the Church of Mr. Forbes, lato rector of St. Luke's Church, New York — and two others, no doubt influenced by his example. That deluded man, while in England, some years ago, visited Mr. Newman, then recently turned Romish Pissenter, and on inquiring, 'what he would have himself and a few 10 try, by our Branch of the one Catholic and Apostolic Church. Such events as those alluded to. are providentially overruled to the strengthening f our faith in the time of trial — -'for there must be also heresies" — the choices of self will, "that they which are appro- ved may he made manifest." The Church, of which we are members, professes to be Protestant, because truly Catholic-, and not Catholic because it is Protestant. Hence its formal antagonism to the Romish communion, applies and was intended to apply only to whatever is distinctively Romish. — The great truths of the Creed, in their affirmative aspect, are those which maintain the life of our souls — which we preach for the salva- tion of men, while as circumstances give occasion, we earnestly, but not officiously (because fearlessly) protest before our flocks", and warn against those corrupt developemenrs of doctrine and order which have marred the fair unity of the Holy Church. This protest, the Church herself has made, silentl)* in her Litur- gy — dogmatically in her Articles and Hnmiliesi A modern writerof eminence, Mr. Palmer, has attempted in his Treatise on the Church, to show the obligation of the rules and principles of Catholic Unity, in relation to the several ancient f churches of the Roman Obedience, as of France or Italy. — (P. I.e. others to do who had hitherto looked up to him as their guide,' re- ceived, we are told, this emphatic reply — "S/ay where you are, Sir." What treacherous purpose may have lurked under this answer we cannot say, but it would be difficult to characterize, in terms too se- vere, this piece of tame and unfilial submission to the judgment of that unlawful Oracle. The ancient Saul had recourse to the witch of Endor, and there, through unblessed arts, received a response prophetic and, in some measure, judicially causative of his doom !— Let it be a warning to all who tamper with the modern Witchcraft ; its Books of fevered, idolatrous devotion, its sensuous Crucifix, its practical Manicbeeism so captivating to the Phrygian temperament, its ceremonial spells, so awakening to the Imaginative, so oppressive to the Spiritual partof man's nature. * After privy conspiracy, in both Common Prayer Books of King Edward VI, followed 'from thelyrmny of the Bishop of Rome, and all his detestable enormities — Good Lord deliver us.' But the words were afterwards omitted, being thought, I suppose, a somewhat too passionate expression for the solemn Litany. fHe denies however, on historical ground*, that the rights attribu- ted to the Roman Churches, in any degree, concern the schisms rais- ed by the Pontiffs in the English countries or the United States of N. America, "which," he says, "are to be viewed and treated as alto- gether cut off from the Catholic Church." "It has even been the custom not fo re-ordain Priests ordained among the papists in Eng- land and Ireland (also in the United States) on their conversion to the Church ; but it may reasonably be doubted whether this was in- tended by those who drew up the Preface to our Ordinal. However, 11 * xi. object, x.) The duty would be unquestionable, were those church- es grounded on tiie primitive Catholic platform of Unity, as we sup- pose the Eastern Churches to be at this day, however degenerate— They might well then challenge the ancient Canons in favor of exclu- sive jurisdiction within their proper districts. But unhappily, the va- rious ancient Churches of the Roman Obedience form parts only of a vast anti-christian system; as parts of that system are they to be judged, not as independent national Churches, or united only in the bond* of an extensive Patriarchate, with which intercommunion, has been temporarily interrupted. The Roman system, as such, is the death of all the most sacred and revered laws and principles of unity; it is deliberately guilty of the profane attempt to centre in a worldly Potentate the Majesty of the Church's oneness throughout the earth. Such a system cannot be reformed or tolerated ; it is the foe and usurper of the Church of Christ— it must be destroyed. Essen- tially schismatic therefore, considered as a Trentine organization, is the Roman Communion every where in respect to the true Catholic Church. The Protestant, who is truly so because Catholic, owes it no obedience or respect; but is himself the representative of the Church's Unity, even on anciently Romish ground. So painful an anomaly as this schismatical Communion presents to the law of the Church's life, cannot weaken the force of that Mystery which has its basis in the wisdom and will of God. "Its partial realization in the world, its many seeming defeats, and apparent anomalies make no more against the truth and certainty of the Unify than the con- travention of immutable morality, the difficulties in the probation of individual men and the partial extent of Christianity against the Gospel itself.:' — Manning. Most thankful should we be that God has cast our lot in a Church which is full of Pentecostal blessings — the pure, unshackled word of God, the sacraments of the Gospel, the fellowship of Apostles, the ministry of reconciliation, the comfort of the Holy Ghost, the commu- nion of Saints, the hope of eternal Life. In the ancient Spirit, this Church holds herself in readiness of mind to submit to the judgment as I have said, the Church was authorized to confirm these ordina- tions, though not bound to do so." The same may be said of Romish Confirmations, especially those administered in the countries named above. Mr. Palmer maintains elsewhere, there may be a provisional Episcopate, established as in Canada or on the continent of Europe, because the Romish Church there refuses communion, but the Epis- copate, he says, is properly for the English only. If this be the prin- ciple on which the Canadian (English) Church is suffered to exist, how can it lawfully receive within itself those who have once been ecclesiastically subject to the Romish Authorities, which yet is con- tinually done? The truth is, that nowhere can the Romish Obe- dience, under its present ties and principles, be treated, either prac- tically or theoretically, otherwise than as an extensively ramified sect — Its rights as a Catholic body being entirely, and, I fear, hope- lessly forfeited. 12 of a/ree and lawful general council. Meanwhile, her utmost anath- ema upon her enemies is that meek rebuke of St. Michael's in the conscious dignity of his arch-angelic nature. (St. Jude 9.) She al- lows none of her ministry to antedate that judgment as against herself by their own private verdict or to disturb her peace by 'voluntary ' novelties. Meanwhile, too, your own Church is to each one of you the witness and symbol of the whole — the representative pledge to you of the one Apostolic Church. At your own altar in the Parish Church, do you pay the homage which you owe to your Savior's prayer "that they all may be one" — there you gather in the vintage from the Sacred vine. " If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning ; if I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth ; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." — Psalms 137. Note on Missionary Colleges. — Under this name I include an Association of Clergy living under rule, but without the entanglement of vows, even for a term, the members of which are responsible to theirBishop, only under the ordinary Canons of the Church That such an Association, formed with counsel, and, therefore, likely to be sustained by the sympathies, prayers, and alms of the members of this Diocese, would be productive, under the Divine blessing, of amazing good in a wide circle of country, there cannot exist a shadow of doubt in the thoughtful mind. We believe that such Missionary Colleges could be formed, under tried and trusted men, to the satisfaction of the whole Church, and that they would fill a real want in our practical system. Certain it is, in the words of Wilberforce, "that our ordin- ary pastoral instruction is not sufficiently backed by any systematic agency for the conversion of the careless, (and I add, for opera- ting effectively on the scattered population of a country like ours.) The calm and orderly course which is required for the one, is wholly different from the occasional and stimulating measures which are needed for the other." But these few remarks are intended merely as suggestive, not descriptive of the scheme in view. I J 4 s o> ^ K $v< I